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Breaking News in Tech, Search, Social, & BusinessTue, 03 Mar 2015 20:11:58 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1Netflix Announces New Original Series ‘Between’http://www.webpronews.com/netflix-announces-new-original-series-between-2014-10
http://www.webpronews.com/netflix-announces-new-original-series-between-2014-10#commentsMon, 20 Oct 2014 12:58:18 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=397884Netflix, along with Canadian TV provider City and subscription video service shomi (a joint venture between Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications), announced a new partnership and original “survival thriller” drama series called Between. The companies say the deal is the first of its kind in Canada for the creation of a new, original series.

The show was created by writer/director Michael McGowan, and stars Jennette McCurdy of iCarly and Sam & Cat. It will premiere on City and shomi in Canada, and on Netflix in the rest of the world. It will also hit Netflix in Canada a year after the premiere.

The first season will have six one-hour episodes. The release date hasn’t been announced, but they’re beginning principal photography immediately. Here’s a description of the show:

Between is the story of a town under siege from a mysterious disease that has wiped out everybody except those 21 years old and under. The series explores the power vacuum that results when a government has quarantined a 10-mile diameter area and left the inhabitants to fend for themselves.

Between stars Jennette McCurdy and was created by Michael McGowan, who executive produces along with Don Carmody (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Goon, Chicago), David Cormican (The Tall Man, Faces in the Crowd), and Naveen Prasad, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Elevation Pictures Corp. Emmy award-winning director Jon Cassar (24, The Kennedys) will direct the first two episodes. The series is produced by Don Carmody Television, Mulmur Feed Co. and in association with Elevation Pictures Corp. Prasad, along with Jayme Alter (Denton’s Canada) for DCTV negotiated the deal. Elevation will oversee worldwide distribution. From Rogers Media, Nataline Rodrigues is Director of Original Programming, Hayden Mindell is Vice President of Television Programming & Content, and Navaid Mansuri is Interim Vice President of Broadcast.

“Teaming up with Rogers, on Between, is a tremendous opportunity to work with a creative partner in Canada to bring our global viewers top-notch content,” said Erik Barmack, Vice President of Global Independent Content at Netflix. “We’re thrilled to be working with outstanding talent behind the scenes including Canadians Don Carmody, Jon Cassar and Michael McGowan, and in front of the camera with a new generation of actors led by Jennette McCurdy, delivering a must watch event series that millions of Netflix viewers will enjoy.”

Before this announcement, Netflix said it had nine original series currently in production.

Image via Netflix

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/netflix-announces-new-original-series-between-2014-10/feed0Cities Safer Than Rural Areas, Shows Studyhttp://www.webpronews.com/cities-safer-than-rural-areas-shows-study-2013-07
http://www.webpronews.com/cities-safer-than-rural-areas-shows-study-2013-07#commentsTue, 23 Jul 2013 19:19:26 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=243991Americans’ vision of the rural U.S. is often the idyllic Mayberry setting of The Andy Griffith Show. However, a new study has now shown that the rural U.S. can actually be more dangerous than U.S. cities.

The study, to be published this week in the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine, shows that the risk of death from injuries is lower on average in urban counties than in suburban and rural counties. Overall, the risk of death from injuries was found to be approximately 20% lower in urban areas than in the rural U.S.

“Perceptions have long existed that cities were innately more dangerous than areas outside of cities, but our study shows this is not the case” said Dr. Sage Myers, lead author of the study and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. “These findings may lead people who are considering leaving cities for non-urban areas due to safety concerns to re-examine their motivations for moving. And we hope the findings could also lead us to re-evaluate our rural health care system and more appropriately equip it to both prevent and treat the health threats that actually exist.”

The study looked at over 1.2 million injury deaths from 1999 to 2006. Car accidents, firearms, and poisoning were found to be the top causes of injury-related death for the U.S. population. Deaths from car crashes were found to be twice as high in rural areas than in urban ones. Firearm-related deaths were higher for children and those over 45 in rural areas, but higher in urban areas for Americans age 20 to 44. Overall homicide rates are higher in urban areas, though suicide rates for those under 19 were higher in rural areas.

“Cars, guns and drugs are the unholy trinity causing the majority of injury deaths in the U.S.,” said Myers. “Although the risk of homicide is higher in big cities, the risk of unintentional injury death is 40 percent higher in the most rural areas than in the most urban. And overall, the rate of unintentional injury dwarfs the risk of homicide, with the rate of unintentional injury more than 15 times that of homicide among the entire population. This has important implications about staffing of emergency departments and trauma care systems in rural areas, which tend to be underserved as it is.”

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/cities-safer-than-rural-areas-shows-study-2013-07/feed1Search Insider Summit – Park City, Utahhttp://www.webpronews.com/search-insider-summit-park-city-utah-2007-12
http://www.webpronews.com/search-insider-summit-park-city-utah-2007-12#commentsMon, 10 Dec 2007 22:32:33 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=42575A whirlwind conference schedule winds up this year with Mediapost’s Search Insider Summit being held in Park City Utah at the Stein Eriksen Lodge Dec 12-15, 2007. As part of our media sponsorship duties, I caught up with conference chair, David Berkowitz from 360i and the host/MC, Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro for a quick interview:]]>A whirlwind conference schedule winds up this year with Mediapost’s Search Insider Summit being held in Park City Utah at the Stein Eriksen Lodge Dec 12-15, 2007. As part of our media sponsorship duties, I caught up with conference chair, David Berkowitz from 360i and the host/MC, Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro for a quick interview:

Please tell us a little about yourself – a mini bio if you will.

David: I’m Director of Emerging Media and Client Strategy with 360i, the search-focused digital agency. I’ve been writing a weekly Search Insider column for MediaPost since it launched in mid-2004. For fun, I have my own blog at MarketersStudio.com, and I do a fair amount of speaking at industry events. It’s a great gig, especially with the clients I get to work with.

Gord: Search marketer, research fan, marketing pundit, columnist and Chair of SEMPO. And those are just my day jobs.

Search Insider Summit is a fairly new conference. How did you get involved and what is your current role?

David: This is the fourth conference in the past two years. I’ve been the program chair since it began, so I’ve had a hands-on role shaping the content and working with all the speakers, along with doing some speaking myself.

Gord: As a Search Insider columnist, I guess I’m amongst the “Usual Suspects” when it comes to being involved with the Summit. I hosted in the Spring in Florida, and I guess I’m back for a repeat performance in Park City. David tells me I’m also on the Advisory Board.

What will you be talking about at the upcoming event in Park City Utah? What’s top of mind for you right now when it comes to search?

David: I’ll be talking a lot less than usual, only appearing on one panel with the other Search Insider columnists, so it’ll be fun shutting up and learning something from the masters. What’s top of mind for me is how search and social media interact. I’m really excited for the sessions on Saturday, especially one on universal search, and I’m not just BSing you because you’re the moderator. With universal search, Google and the other engines are showing how social media optimization (SMO) becomes search engine optimization (SMO).

Gord: I wrote a column awhile back titled “Will Agencies ever Get Search? Don’t Hold Your Breath.” Rumor has it that I’ll be dragging that debate into a public forum on the opening day. I suspect there will be no quicker way to polarize the audience. I’m sure I’ll be touching on other topics as well during the show. Personally, I’m fascinated by how we use search as an extension of our own decision modeling.

Since were at the end of the year, can you make some predictions about search marketing in 2008? Is anything more notable that personalized and unified search in store for the way engines work (algorithmically)? What changes regarding paid search and social search do you see in store?

David: Unified or universal search is just getting warmed up, as is just about anything with social media optimization. With paid search, I don’t anticipate so many changes to it because what all of these new social media ad opportunities and other new models reveal is how hard it is to find anything more effective than search engine marketing. Granted, people are only searching so much of the time online, and the new models for when people are consuming content are getting much more sophisticated. I’m really curious to see if mobile search gains traction.

Gord: Ah..search predictions. Gotta love them. Well, we’ll see continued experimentation and testing with both personalized and unified search (and hopefully, we’ll come to agreement on the label we attach to it..unified..universal..3D..it’s getting really confusing). And I’m thinking mobile will see some significant changes in the coming year as well. My crystal ball is a little fuzzy.

From my previous experience, this event is strategically focused in it’s programming and there’s an abundance of networking opportunities. Who do you think is the ideal delegate for an event like this?

David: Ultimately, I think the ideal delegate is someone who’s dying to learn, and who will at least be coaxed into contributing given the chance. This is an event for someone hungry to explore not just what works but why it works. It’s someone who’s up for taking a ton of notes that they’ll turn into action items for their CMO or their agency.

Gord: Not sure who the ideal candidate is, because there’s a lot of territory being covered. I’d think the people who are looking at how to further integrate search into their own company’s bucket of best practices would find it useful. Also, the agency folks who are looking at how to expand their internal search practices will probably find a good fit. If nothing else, they can gang up and push me off a chair lift or down a luge run.

Since the event will be held at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, which will it be for you? Skiing or snowmobiling?

David: I’ve never skied but I’ll be willing to try the bunny slope. With snowmobiling, I’m in Manhattan and don’t drive much, but I’ve been playing Mario Kart 64 on the Wii during an occasional sanity break, and I’m not sure you want to see me behind the wheel of anything right now. I’m hoping there’ll be smores.

Gord: I’m from Canada. Snow is not something I’m going to be going out of my way to frolic in. Finding a location strategically located by the nearest fireplace sounds good, preferably with some type of hot drink in my hand.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/search-insider-summit-park-city-utah-2007-12/feed0Hong Kong’s Broadband Is How Fast?http://www.webpronews.com/hong-kongs-broadband-is-how-fast-2007-09
http://www.webpronews.com/hong-kongs-broadband-is-how-fast-2007-09#commentsWed, 26 Sep 2007 21:09:49 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=40696In case you're still convinced there's a true open market in broadband space and the handful of companies running it are sufficient competition for each other, consider this: in Hong Kong, you can get a fiber-to-the-home connection 20 times faster than Verizon's FiOS connection for about the same price.
]]>In case you’re still convinced there’s a true open market in broadband space and the handful of companies running it are sufficient competition for each other, consider this: in Hong Kong, you can get a fiber-to-the-home connection 20 times faster than Verizon’s FiOS connection for about the same price.

Hong Kong’s Broadband Is How Fast?

Gizmodo was quick to point out that Verizon will deliver 5 Mbps to customers for $40 per month, and up to 30 Mbps for $180 per month.

But in Hong Kong, according to a City Telecom press release, 5 Mbps isn’t even an option. Or even 10, because they’ve just discontinued their 10 Mbps offering, making the 25 Mbps the entry (basic) package.

How much is that? The release doesn’t say, but if you’d like to try the 100 Mbps service (boy would we!), it’ll about $48.50. Not fast enough? (Huh? Couldn’t fathom that kind of speed.) CTEL can upgrade you to 200 Mbps for $88.

Still too slow?

I know, your mind’s melting, right?

How about 1 Gbps for $215?

So, how do you feel about paying $180 per month for that blistering 30 Mbps now? Yeah, kinda figured. Maybe we should ask for our $200 billion back, eh?

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/hong-kongs-broadband-is-how-fast-2007-09/feed2Ask City Draws Up Map Embeddinghttp://www.webpronews.com/ask-city-draws-up-map-embedding-2007-09
http://www.webpronews.com/ask-city-draws-up-map-embedding-2007-09#commentsTue, 11 Sep 2007 11:31:03 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=40322]]>Users of Ask City can whip out their drawing tools, select an area on a map, search for a relevant business or event, and embed that map on their sites or blogs.Gary Price announced the latest updates to Ask City, the local search and mapping service from Ask.com. One update added allows people to find their driving or walking directions, and adjust them by way of location.

This permits the mapper to select a point to pass through on the way from A to B. Someone going from a subway stop to a museum may want to pass by a certain coffee shop that isn’t directly on the way, for example.

Ask City lets the visitor adjust the directions to include that new stop. A hyperlink to “Adjust Route” appears at the bottom of each step of the directions, for access to this feature.

The bigger update follows a similar, recent move by Google to provide embeddable maps. Site and blog publishers who want to highlight some location, and relevant places within that area, can make a map on Ask City to bring to their sites.

This feature is an evolution from Ask’s earlier debut of the “search inside” feature of Ask City, according to Gary. It gives the mapmaker/site publisher the ability to present the map to visitors, rather than just a link to the map.

More importantly, embeddable mapping demonstrates in vivid fashion that not all the nifty features in search come from Google’s Mountain View labs. Google may be the most familiar search site in the world, but searchers should give the Asks, Yahoos, and even Microsofts a try. They might be pleasantly surprised by what they find.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/ask-city-draws-up-map-embedding-2007-09/feed0Google Tries To Protect APEC?http://www.webpronews.com/google-tries-to-protect-apec-2007-08
http://www.webpronews.com/google-tries-to-protect-apec-2007-08#commentsTue, 14 Aug 2007 22:15:30 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=39762The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation will meet in Australia’s largest city in about three weeks’ time, but if you seek Google’s help to look at Sydney, you may be out of luck - Google Maps images of the area have become rather fuzzy.

]]>The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation will meet in Australia’s largest city in about three weeks’ time, but if you seek Google’s help to look at Sydney, you may be out of luck – Google Maps images of the area have become rather fuzzy.

“Censorship! Conspiracy! Google’s gone evil!” is the cry that’s been taken up by some. Others have suggested that Google is just trying to keep 21 world leaders from getting blown up. And according to Rob Shilkin, a spokesman for Google Australia, they’re all wrong; the poor image quality is the result of a business arrangement gone bad.

“This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with APEC,” Shilkin told The Sydney Morning Herald. “We’re re-sourcing our imagery for parts of Sydney as a result of a commercial issue with one of our suppliers, so some of the highest-res images have been temporarily replaced.”

And as fun as a conspiracy theory would be, Shilkin’s explanation seems quite possible. After all, Google did about the best it could with a map of Washington, D.C. when restrictions were put in place there.

Also, we have yet to see how long the “fuzziness” over Google Maps’s representation of Sydney will last – this could all be resolved well before the APEC summit.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/google-tries-to-protect-apec-2007-08/feed1The Top Electronic Retailer Siteshttp://www.webpronews.com/the-top-electronic-retailer-sites-2007-08
http://www.webpronews.com/the-top-electronic-retailer-sites-2007-08#commentsFri, 03 Aug 2007 16:11:05 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=39551Amazon.com and Best Buy were ranked #1 for being the best online electronics retailers according to a Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Electronics Retailers study.
]]>Amazon.com and Best Buy were ranked #1 for being the best online electronics retailers according to a Keynote Customer Experience Rankings for Electronics Retailers study.

Amazon was the top ranked site for search satisfaction, and one of the top ranked sites in six of nine categories including price satisfaction, product research and site navigation and organization.

Best Buy had the biggest improvement in online customer experience over the past year and was the top ranked site for customer satisfaction. It also ranked in the top for ease of purchase and customer support. Best Buys most significant gains were in search satisfaction.

The Dell Web site also saw improvements in customer experience and satisfaction in the past year, with solid gains in product interest and the overall perceptions of the visual appeal of its site.

In the Keynote Service Level Rankings studies Circuit City had the most reliable Web site with little or no downtime and Staples Web site was fastest in downloading pages and completing transactions.

The study examined 2,200 consumers online retail experience and was conducted during May and June 2007.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/the-top-electronic-retailer-sites-2007-08/feed0Beaches Tops In Web Cam Searcheshttp://www.webpronews.com/beaches-tops-in-web-cam-searches-2007-07
http://www.webpronews.com/beaches-tops-in-web-cam-searches-2007-07#commentsMon, 23 Jul 2007 16:43:42 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=39302Ah, the Web cam. So simple, so abused. But they can be used for good, and though you might assume the Internet (as in, the collective online population) uses them mostly for nefarious and seedy peeping-Tom purposes, that's not really true, not mostly.
]]>Ah, the Web cam. So simple, so abused. But they can be used for good, and though you might assume the Internet (as in, the collective online population) uses them mostly for nefarious and seedy peeping-Tom purposes, that’s not really true, not mostly.
Given, adult cams are in the top 10 in the SERPs, those back-alley neighborhoods aren’t what the majority are looking for when cruising for voyeuristic fun.

For the most part, they seem to like beaches. And not topless ones, either. For the Internet, web cams are for checking out things you don’t get to see every day.

It’s an interesting facet of human nature, I think, that we ignore the glory that is around us and seek other glories. I live amongst the natural beauty of Kentucky, but rarely see it. When I lived in Japan, I passed Mt. Fuji every day as Fuji-san sat on the horizon like some ancient guard or some subdued, placated monster. Eventually, I didn’t notice it either.

At the base of Fuji was a forest called Aokigahara, or "Sea of Trees," a popular suicide destination as the magnetic field around the volcano disabled compasses, and people would go into it, basking in the symbolism of being lost and never find their way out again. It was said to be haunted by thousands of ghosts.

They should set up a Web cam there to see if it’s true. Ghost cams, according to Yahoo’s Erik Gunther, are the second-most sought after types of cams, right after live beach cams.

If you’re thinking of setting up some kind of Web cam site, these are the top 20 things surfers are looking to escape to:

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/beaches-tops-in-web-cam-searches-2007-07/feed0Yahoo Crowns Greenest Cityhttp://www.webpronews.com/yahoo-crowns-greenest-city-2007-06
http://www.webpronews.com/yahoo-crowns-greenest-city-2007-06#commentsMon, 25 Jun 2007 17:34:31 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=38718Yahoo wanted to find the greenest city in America, and now it has: Hastings, Nebraska. Hastings will receive $250,000 to be used towards various environmental endeavors, and has also earned “a Yahoo!-hosted Nebraska-style BBQ and celebration.”

]]>Yahoo wanted to find the greenest city in America, and now it has: Hastings, Nebraska. Hastings will receive $250,000 to be used towards various environmental endeavors, and has also earned “a Yahoo!-hosted Nebraska-style BBQ and celebration.”

At first glance, this looks like something of a hollow victory. After all, with a population of less than 30,000 people, Hastings would probably remain beautiful regardless of its citizens’ actions. Then again, that fact shows Yahoo wasn’t favoring more well-known sites – the biggest city on its top ten list is Topeka, Kansas.

And it turns out that Yahoo wasn’t just looking at the amount of grass in any given area, either. “Current initiatives [in Hastings] include conversion of methane to energy at its pollution control center, local production of Ethanol E85, extensive networks of parks and hiking and biking trails, and installation of energy-efficient street lighting,” reveals a Yahoo press release.

Yahoo’s “Greenest City in America” challenge is only the latest in a series of conservation projects. Google has also gone green, and made announcements about a fleet of hybrid cars and some solar panel arrays just last week. Even Microsoft is getting on board . . . it appears that the corporations are vying for the title of “Greenest Company-With-A-Search-Engine in America.”

For today, however, the spotlight remains on Yahoo and Hastings. Also – I’m kind of hungry at the moment – let’s not forget that Nebraska-style BBQ.

]]>http://www.webpronews.com/yahoo-crowns-greenest-city-2007-06/feed0ABG – “Anyone But Google”http://www.webpronews.com/abg-anyone-but-google-2007-06
http://www.webpronews.com/abg-anyone-but-google-2007-06#commentsMon, 25 Jun 2007 15:49:32 +0000http://www.webpronews.com/?p=38706This is clearly the year of ABG - "Anyone But Google." It's inevitable, but why are search engine pundits leading the charge?]]>This is clearly the year of ABG – "Anyone But Google." It’s inevitable, but why are search engine pundits leading the charge?

The first pundit of note as a decent excuse – Charles Knight has made a name for himself raising awareness of hundreds of alternative search engines. He’s done a phenomenal job building that list and gaining a following on his altsearchengines blog, part of the Read/Write Web group where his columns first appeared. He comes off as this Don Quixote figure, even if on occasion he comes off as a bit like a cult leader, as he once wrote a number of people, myself included, seeking someone with "a passion for the cause of the alternative search engines." I’m all for the education, but for causes, I’ll stick to City Harvest and the like. Still, I applaud the work he’s doing, as he’s single-handedly raised visibility for dozens of search engines that deserve to find an audience (and hundreds more that don’t).

Not only have I declined to enter into the "true believer" camp of Mr. Knight, but I’ve been routinely quoted as the defender of the status quo, sort of like Aaron Eckhart’s character in Thank You for Smoking. It all started by a brief comment responding to an altsearchengine post on a "Day without Google," where readers were encouraged to break their Google crack habit and try another search engine drug of choice. My comment signaled how crucial the major engines are for allowing me to function:

"I might as well take it as a vacation day. The top 5 are the top 5 for a reason."

A quick Google search (yes, I’m evil) relating to that quote showed 10 mentions, or 97 if you show the omitted and potentially duplicate results, including a mention in the UK’s Register. Word travels fast.

I found the quote come up once again in a post on Search Engine Land by none other than the Sultan of Search Engine Marketing himself, Danny Sullivan (maybe Kevin Ryan can be the Shah). He’s inspired by Mr. Knight and is publicizing Google-Free Fridays. Yet rather than trying to use this to promote usage of truly alternative engines, he wants his readers to try Yahoo, Windows Live, Ask, and AOL.

I’m not sure my response to Mr. Sullivan’s post will get as much play (it’s not as pithy), but it’s worth sharing here:

This blog caters [Search Engine Land] to search engine marketers, right? Whether one is client-side, at a search engine marketing agency, or even from another search engine, it’s in everyone’s best interest to check out other search engines from time to time. If you only use one engine, no matter what that engine is, you’re not doing your job. Why we need a schedule for this is beyond me.

Full disclosure: I have the Google toolbar and use it religiously. In the Firefox search bar, however, I routinely have one of the other engines as the default so an alternative is easily accessible, and I often take deep dives on the others to see if anyone’s offering improvements over the Google standard (see the recent column on Ask.com as an example). I also routinely check out vertical and specialized search engines relating to shopping, health, and other categories.

No matter which of the major engines you use, odds are it’s good enough. comScore’s rankings of search engine market share don’t even include an "other" category. It’s great to dive into that "other" category, but if you’re already working with search engines in any significant way, you better be using more than one already or you’re doing a disservice to your clients.
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